1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a paper seasoning apparatus, a paper seasoning method and an inkjet recording apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to a paper seasoning apparatus for blowing air onto a side face of a stack of paper, a paper seasoning method employing such a paper seasoning apparatus, and an inkjet recording apparatus including the paper seasoning apparatus.
2. Related Art
Sometimes expansion and contraction of paper occurs just after the paper has been recorded with an image by an inkjet recording apparatus. This expansion and contraction of paper are due to the presence of portions within a single sheet of paper, where there is a lot of ink (moisture content) and portions where there is little thereof.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2008-290800 discloses a paper handling apparatus that includes a pair of pressing members that sandwich plural sheets of paper that have been stacked on each other from the front and back, and air supply devices and air supply nozzles that blow air onto the sandwiched plural sheets of paper.
Humidity conditioning (called seasoning) of the paper, namely acclimatization of the paper to the peripheral environment, in particular to the humidity, can be performed by supplying air onto the plural sheets of paper (paper stack), thereby suppressing expansion and contraction of the paper.
However, a mounting plate may have a curve with a specific radius of curvature in order to correct paper curl, when paper is collected and stacked in the vertical direction and the stack of paper sheets mounted on a mounting plate. When a mounting plate has a curve in such a manner and air is blown between sheets of paper similarly to in JP-A No. 2008-290800, sufficient separation between the sheets of paper cannot be secured. This is due to concentration of the load of the paper, for example, in the vicinity of a peak of the mounting plate (a location of locally raised height). Accordingly, there is a need for more efficient humidity conditioning (seasoning).